Christmas brew for 2013. Ideas please.

[minesapint]

After bottling my Christmas Brew at a final gravity of 1.022 I sure was worried about possible exploding bottles.
I have never bottled anything with such a high final gravity before.
I even knocked up some plywood crates out of some panelling the neighbour had ripped out of his house, ply lids nailed on in case of explosions.
Last night, six months later we tried a couple. Bottles wrapped in a tea towel whilst taking off the crown caps and nervously waiting for a Champagne style discharge.
Just a gentle hiss and that slight smoky vapour that you see in the neck of a freshly opened bottle.
Poured carefully and drunk with equal care.
Lovely taste and good body, although it is a dark ale it looks clean and sparkly.
The yeast was not the most compacted that I have ever seen SAFBREW S33 , but had settled OK with just a few dregs left in the bottles.
Not very gassy, there is gas in it ,just a few rising bubbles now and again. I am happy with that as I wont be worrying to much about possible misshaps with too much pressure.
At about 9%ABV I am glad that I put it into small bottles now, I had my doubts at first.
Just a couple more months until Christmas but I am going to try save some for next year.
I can well recommend anyone to give it a try.
Its definitely one that I shall repeat and bring out on special occasions.

Cheers all.

[troutie]

Wow I really want to do the Twelfth night at toad hall beer but will now have to be for xmas 2014

quick question whats the reason for the campden tablets in the mash and the boil ??

[mcdonald_ajr]

There is a view that campden tablets remove chloramine from tap water. My water company doesn't add chloramine, so I don't bother adding them. They are not specific to this recipe. I assume the author has found they work for him. Might be worth asking your water company for a water profile, which is useful to have anyway.

Anthony

[troutie]

Thanks.
I do the campden tab in the hlt water a couple of days prior to brewing .

another query. I dont have any small bottles yet so wondering if I could age it in a corny and then bottle when I have collected enough bottles.

[mcdonald_ajr]

I actually use a corny as a secondary fermentation vessel. I cut a centimetre off the outlet tube, so I don't transfer the sediment. I added a bottling tube to the beer out line and use just enough CO2 to dispense it to bottles without causing any foam. Worked well for me, and reduces chances of infections. Just purge the corny of air before and after you have transferred the beer from the fermentation bucket. Cornys don't leak oxygen like plastic secondaries can, so good for storing for a long time. I also use this technique for clearing my beer and then transfer the beer to another corny, using a tube to join the two cornys. Again, less chance of infection and oxidation with no exposure to air. If you don't want to cut the outlet tube, then you will transfer some sediment to the first few bottles, not a big deal.

You will need to prime the bottles with a quarter teaspoon of sugar if you do this, as the fermentation will complete in the corny (assuming the beer is in the corny for some months), as there won't be any sugars left to put some fizz in the bottles.

Anthony

[minesapint]

Hello Everyone.

Happy New Year to you all.

Christmas 2013 has come and gone, along with a few bottles of "Twelfth Night at Toad Hall" .
I can honestly recommend any one to give it a try. Saw the New Year in with a glass of this .
Definite hints of Ginger, Orange and Cinamon.
Good body and dark colour.
Not too gassy, as I was reluctant to prime the bottles at such a high finish gravity.
Nine months in the bottle, a record for me.
Needs to be in small bottles if available as it is quite potent, I think it turned out about 9% abv.

Thank you to all who contributed with suggestions and special thanks to mcdonald_ajr for recommending the recipe and putting me onto the Sensible Mole Brewing Site and Col Robinson for coming up with a great recipe and website.
I still have a crate of full pint bottles left and they will be rationed out at Christmas 2014 and 2015.

Thanks again All and Cheers.

[Dave S]

Hello Everyone.

Happy New Year to you all.

Christmas 2013 has come and gone, along with a few bottles of "Twelfth Night at Toad Hall" .
I can honestly recommend any one to give it a try. Saw the New Year in with a glass of this .
Definite hints of Ginger, Orange and Cinamon.
Good body and dark colour.
Not too gassy, as I was reluctant to prime the bottles at such a high finish gravity.
Nine months in the bottle, a record for me.
Needs to be in small bottles if available as it is quite potent, I think it turned out about 9% abv.

Thank you to all who contributed with suggestions and special thanks to mcdonald_ajr for recommending the recipe and putting me onto the Sensible Mole Brewing Site and Col Robinson for coming up with a great recipe and website.
I still have a crate of full pint bottles left and they will be rationed out at Christmas 2014 and 2015.

Thanks again All and Cheers.

Glad it turned out well. I must say I admire your cast iron resolution in the expectation of still having some left by Christmas 2015

[minesapint]

Happy New Year Dave.

As they say "the best laid plans of mice and men" we shall see what happens when my kegs and other bottles are empty.
The remainder is in a crate, with the lid nailed on and stored in a corner under the stairs . To get at it all the junk has to be removed bit by bit. It's quicker and easier to nip down to the off licence.
Mashed a Timothy Taylor Landlord (from Brew Your Own British Real Ale) on Friday, a bit of a struggle in the chilly garage to keep the temperature right. Got there in the end, and in a day or two I shall use the yeast from that to brew a cheap and cheerful mild. Then thinking of looking for one of the Durden Park Beer Circle porters from their book. That will be a long term effort and the special brew for Christmas 2014.



Cheers Dave nice to hear from you.

[Dave S]

Happy New Year Dave.

As they say "the best laid plans of mice and men" we shall see what happens when my kegs and other bottles are empty.
The remainder is in a crate, with the lid nailed on and stored in a corner under the stairs . To get at it all the junk has to be removed bit by bit. It's quicker and easier to nip down to the off licence.
Mashed a Timothy Taylor Landlord (from Brew Your Own British Real Ale) on Friday, a bit of a struggle in the chilly garage to keep the temperature right. Got there in the end, and in a day or two I shall use the yeast from that to brew a cheap and cheerful mild. Then thinking of looking for one of the Durden Park Beer Circle porters from their book. That will be a long term effort and the special brew for Christmas 2014.



Cheers Dave nice to hear from you.

Happy New year to you too, minesa. Coincidentally, I too brewed a TTL this WE. The whole process went really well. Pitched with Wyeast 1469, (no starter, again ). I'm not having a great deal of success with starters as I don't give them enough attention - life getting in the way etc.

[minesapint]

30/12/2015
Tried a bottle last night.
Not many bottles left now but still drinkable with no bad effects next day.
Slight hint of liquorice to it but very nice.
As it is 2 years 9 months old now it is possibly getting near to the end of its drinkable life.
I will polish it off on New Years Eve and keep a small bottle for Christmas 2016.
Another will be kept and poured into the boil of a fresh brew of Twelfth Night to be mashed in January/ February 2016.
That way, in the future I will have a brew with a long pedigree going back years and a bit of nostalgia as well.
Happy Christmas all.

[Secla]

Nice idea pouring a bottle into your next brew, never heard if it before but a nice talking point even if it doesn't change the flavour

[minesapint]

It might be an original idea in the brewing world but I saw something similar over 40 years ago on something like Pathe News.

In those days I was old enough to buy and smoke cigarettes, get married and have kids, I even got my voting papers at the age of 16 due to an error when my dad filled in the forms wrongly, join the forces and die for Queen and country but could not buy a pint legally.

It was a Christmas pudding being mixed by the Royal Navy. A piece was put aside from a cooked pudding that had been given a ceremonial stir by one of the Monarchs, possibly Victoria.
The slice of pudding was kept until the next year and thrown into the new mix, and so on down the years. So the Royal Navy Christmas pudding had a pedigree going back many years. A bit like British Rail Pies and sandwiches in the old days.
Who knows? It might catch on in the brewing world.
Cheers.